How to make wrapped leather bracelets

Let me begin by stating the obvious – this style of wrapped leather bracelet is EVERYWHERE this season. Everywhere! Even my athletic clothing catalogs – which only have maybe three pieces of jewelry – are featuring this style. Why? Because it is casual yet chic and infinitely customizable! The catalog (which shall remain nameless) priced each bracelet at $120. Needless to say, you can make your own for far, far less using supplies from Rings & Things!

4-6mm round beads We used gemstone beads, but glass, crystal beads or pearls would also be lovely. The number you need depends on how many times you want to wrap the bracelet around your wrist. Larger beads work too – but they will start getting heavy on multiple-wrap styles. All the bracelets pictured in this post use 6mm. Our new wrapped bracelet kits use 4mm beads. <– The kits are great, because once you make your first bracelet, you’ll have plenty of thread and needles left over with which to make many more!

Leather cord Our examples use Greek leather. Both the 1.5mm and 2mm worked great.

Thread Needs to be sturdy and able to pass (doubled) through your beads twice. Pick a color that matches your leather or that provides a pretty contrast. We used earth assortment). We now have tubes with all black or all brown bobbins available too!

Choose your bracelet length and cut your leather. The formula is double your finished bracelet length plus extra for making the knots. For single-wrap bracelet, measure your wrist and then triple that number to get the length of leather needed (7″ wrist = 21″ of leather). For a triple-wrap, multiply your wrist by seven (7″ wrist = 49″ leather). It is better to leave your leather too long than to end up with not enough.

Cut a long piece of thread (10-12 feet) and thread your needle. Knot the end of the threads.

Knot the leather and thread together, leaving a loop on the end.

Holding the thread by the knot, let the needle fall to the ground so it is centered on the thread. Fold your piece of leather in half, leaving a loop large enough for your button to fit through. Holding the knot-end of the thread with the leather, tie an overhand knot so that your thread and leather are now connected.

Make sure your button will fit through the loop before you tighten the knot.

Attach your piece to a work surface.

Using binder clips or clothespins, attach your loop to the top of a piece of cardboard. Use a second clip to attach the leather ends to the bottom of your board (leave the thread loose).

Starting with your thread in the middle of the two strands of leather, wrap the thread OVER the right strand to the outside, then UNDER the right, OVER the left to the outside, then UNDER the left and OVER the right. It is a simple figure-8 stitch.

Over, under, over, under – once you get a rhythm going, the bracelet is super easy to make!

Do this 5-6 times, pulling the thread tight around the leather to form a binding. (The pattern could go either way, but since I’m right-handed I’m going to describe it this way. Reverse it if needed!) Here is a close-up of the lashing:

A few stitches without beads secures the thread nicely on the leather.

Now you are ready to start adding beads. After your thread has passed UNDER the left leather, add a bead. Hold the bead between the two strands of leather, and stitch the thread OVER the right, back UNDER the right, THROUGH the bead hole again and OVER the left. Bring the thread UNDER the left and add another bead in the middle. Repeat many many times! Keep the beads pulled in snugly against the leather. Pay attention so that your stitches all face the same way. If your thread seems to snag a lot, use a bit of thread conditioner or beeswax on it.

Adding the first bead to a wrapped bracelet – but really I’m posting this picture to show off Jaci’s manicure!

A work in progress. See how the beads line up inside the leather?

To finish the bracelet, form several stitches without beads, just like you did in step 5. Now you are ready to attach your button or bead. Ideally, you’ll have enough leather left to tie on a button with a nice knot on the back and trim the ends.

Long tails makes it easy to tie on a button closure.

If your button has a small loop, you might need to miter (angle) the leather end and pull it through with pliers.

If somehow you come up short, all is not lost. You can tie a disk bead onto just one strand of the leather (use glue to enforce your knot), like on the 2nd bracelet from the left. Or if your ends are really short, use a hook-end crimp, as shown on the pink bracelet on the right.

If desired, add a touch of glue to the knots to ensure the thread is gripped securely by the leather. Trim ends as needed.

Other design options:

String your button or bead clasp first, then tie a series of knots on the end to make the bracelet length adjustable.

Use jump rings to attach a couple of charms, like on Mollie’s Belle Star bracelet.

Leave the leather tails long and add beads or decorative knots.

Substitute a different type of cord for the leather, as in Tracy’s rattail and dragon blood jasper design:

Have fun creating your own wrapped bracelets! You’ll find it is quite addictive once you start. Please feel free to post questions – I will do my best to answer! ~ Cindy

A: It’s best if you can avoid running out of thread (start with 10-12 feet to avoid running out). But if you do, start a few beads back and go through them again. This means you’ll have to go through some of your beads 4x, which (depending on your beads and cord) might be impossible. Other problems are that your bracelet will be weaker than if you were able to use 1 continuous thread, and you’ll be able to see the section that has twice as much cord as the rest of the bracelet.

A2: Get really good at hiding knots in your beads. =)

A3: If you’re down to just a tiny bit of thread, it is going to be hard to tie the ends onto new strands, but if you realize you’re not going to make it and cut off the needle, rethread and knot the strands together, you can probably pull the knot inside of a bead. I hope this makes sense – basically you’re not “starting anew” but pausing, adding on some extra thread and picking up right where you left off. 🙂

Sorry, Eileen – we don’t have a DVD or separate tutorial available. I would recommend searching You Tube for a “wrapped leather bracelet how to” if you’d like to see the whole process in action. Happy beading!

Hey Mellisa! Greek leather is known for being high quality – it is very smooth and supple (and we do ship to NZ!). But any type of leather cord will work for this type of bracelet so whatever you can buy locally should be fine.

Hi Debbie! I agree the long thread is a major pain, but I found that using a narrow (4″ wide) piece of cardboard as my work surface helped me to not get tangled so much. I also prefer dropping my needle off to the side after each stitch, and pulling the stitch taut with my fingers, rather than trying to pull the needle several feet out to the side. Hope that makes sense. 🙂

Hi Elaine – if your bracelet gets dirty I’d advise washing the surface with a damp cloth. This type of design isn’t meant to get submerged. “Natural” leather will darken since it absorbs oil from your skin, but the other colors stay the same.
Hope this helps! Cindy

Hi Abbey! I would just knot some more thread onto your strand before you run out, and try to hide the knot inside one of the beads. Add a drop of BeadFix or superglue if you want to be really safe. good luck!

Maybe I missed a part – what do you do to secure the thread at the end of the process. The directions skip from “form several stitches without beads” to “attach your button.” Should I just knot or tie it off, or should it be part of the knot that secures the button, like it was at the beginning with the loop. And at the top near the loop, do you just end up with a knotted piece of thread or do you secure that somehow, too?
Thanks for the instructions – I’m really excited about these!

Hi Emily! No worries, I understood what you meant even without all the punctuation 🙂
Your guess is a good one – since the thread is lashed around the leather securely at both the beginning and the end, I it is best to just continue the thread through the knot with the button instead of trying to knot it off sooner.
At the top, just trim the thread end and hide it underneath the lashing. Some people like to use a drop of glue to make sure it stays tucked away.
Hope this helps! Good luck on your bracelets.

Thanks so much- great instructions and I am excited to try it. I particularly like that the design begins with the loop rather than the button. So much tidier!

Can you tell me, though, how closely to the knot you trim your ends after the button is attached, and if glue will actually secure leather knots? I have seen glue suggested in a couple of tutorials but I am doubtful about glue’s strength with the shiny leather.

Hi Christine! How closely you trim the ends is up to you…I’ve seen it done many ways. I like to trim the ends pretty close, but as you noticed, that does seem to work best with the natural (uncoated/less shiny) leather. Glue can work well – just make sure whatever you use includes leather on the list of compatible materials and you should be ok. Superglues tend to become brittle, and Amazing Quick Hold will destroy the leather, so I don’t recommend either of those.
If you don’t want to mess with glue, long tails can be a pretty design feature, too, like on this bracelet by Jaci: http://www.rings-things.com/gallery/displayimage-1941.html
Hope this helps! Good luck!

Thank you so much for the tutorial on how to make the wrap bracelets! I’ve been looking for one all over, and yours was great. I just made one for my wedding, and it turned out perfect due to your post.

Oooh, that skull bead looks tricky. I see how the eye holes make it look like a button, but you’re right, tying it on that way covers up the face. My only idea is to put wire through the regular bead holes, and make some kind of loop on the back to string the leather through. Good luck! Hope it turns out one way or another 🙂

Not positive on this as I’m just learning myself, but what if you used your two loose ends (at the end of the bracelet) and thread each end up through one eye and down through the other eye ( like a button) and tie your knot off underneath?

It will cover the “nose” bridge a bit with the leather but that’s the only way I can think of to make those beads work.

Otherwise you could thread your ends, one each through each eye and tie a knot on top like a disc bead but I think that would cover more than you’d like.

I have more faceted acrylic beads than I know what to do with. I noticed one of your patterns used faceted beads. I’m wondering how comfortable that would be. Is it a lose fitting bracelet or should I add an inch or so to make it looser?

Hi Lisa! Faceted beads work great. Each of us made our bracelets to fit our own wrists with enough slack to be comfortable. As long as the bracelet has a little wiggle room on your wrist you shouldn’t be bothered by the faceting at all.

Hi Cindy, This all looks pretty clear, but I’m wondering what you do with the thread you knotted in the beginning, at the loop end?? In one of the last pictures, labeled “long tails make it easy to tie on a button closure,” I can see the knotted thread at the loop end. Do you snip it off?
Thanks!!

Hi Tracy! Yes, just snip off the thread close to the knot. This is where some people like to add a droplet of glue for security, although I’ve found that the knot and lashing holds it together just fine. Sorry for the oversight in the instructions. Hope your project turns out great!

Hi! I’m not sure exactly how they knotted the ends together, but that bracelet looks like it is stitched together the same way as our wrap bracelet. They just made three wrist-length pieces and then used the silver beads to stitch those pieces into a cuff. You could probably do a 3-row version by making 2 wrist-length sections and stitching them together with the same beads. Good luck! Looks fun 🙂

Hello. Have you had any experience with the beads slipping (thread slides on the leather after wearing, and the bracelet starts to twist up) on the leather? Am I not securing it tightly enough to the leather? 🙁 Help….

Hi,
I’m going to try to make some of these for gifts – i’m totally new to the beading game and am ordering supplies direct from your site – I’m wondering what size needle to get if I’m going to use the recommended thread? I see from your picture that the needle is slightly curved too. I honestly have none of the supplies on hand so I need to get it all. Also, if I were to do a triple wrap for an average adult woman’s wrist – how many bracelets would I get from one roll of the greek leather (need to figure out how much I need).

Hi Nancy! Hope I’m not replying too late. I recommend the size 10 sharps beading needles (although most sizes of beading – not sewing – needles will work). Don’t worry about the needle being curved. Based on average wrist size (7.5″ wrist x 7 triple wrap = 52.5″ for each bracelet) you can make three bracelets with 5 meters of leather, or 13 with 20 meters. Good luck!

The size D thread should work on *some* of those beads, but not all of them. You’ll probably end up with some set aside for matching earrings. =D
The size D thread is .15mm, then you double it, making it .3mm, and then you go through the beads twice, so that makes .6mm … but cord is a little squishy, so that doesn’t mean it is a total fail … but the math does say it is larger than the smallest .5mm holes. Especially when you add in a bit more for the thickness of the needle’s eye. So use the thinnest needle that you can stand to use.

Thanks so, SO much for sharing this tutorial. I, too, like many others have been searching high and low for these instructions. While I do plan on purchasing the leather you used, currently I have many packages of leather I got from your typical craft stores (e.g. Michael’a, AC Moore, etc) and I’m sure they’re of lower quality. If using them, do you recommend using the same kind of needle? The leather I have is rather stiff, so I wonder. Also, besides the thread you’ve used, have you used any other brands that work as well? And just for giggles, do you think this type of bracelet can be made sturdy with Rattail? Thanks for reading, Happy Holidays…..Andi from Eclecticajewelry.artfire.com. (can’t wait to make these and hopefully sell some – I’ve actually bought these before and they’ve always come apart!)

Hi Andi! Since the thread just wraps around the leather, rather than piercing it, the any beading needle is fine. Any beading needle and any thread that is small enough to fit 2x through the bead holes (and looks good!) is fine too. Tracy here made a version with Rattail – it has held up fine, but it does have a more fluid, less “sturdy” feel than the leather versions. Happy holidays to you too! 🙂

If the leather is too stiff, it might also be brittle and break while your customer is wearing it, or the colored coating (if any) might flake off.

To test it, you might try wrapping a few strands around your wrist and wearing them as a “plain” bracelet for a few days or a week, to see how it holds up.

Personally, I think rattail would be too squishy — you’d be able to see indents where the cord wrapped around it. But, it might look cool and patterned that way. I haven’t actually seen one made with rattail before. Rattail is pretty tough, and I love the colors and shinyness, but it might fray.

The most common method is to knot some more thread onto your strand before you run out, and try to hide the knot inside one of the beads, then add a drop of BeadFix or superglue if you want to be really safe.

I just finished making one of these 🙂 made a couple of mistakes at the beginning but I got there in the end. Thanks for posting the tutorial! I really enjoyed making it and I’ll definitely be making a few more.

I started making one of these the other day with 7-8mm river shell beads. I love the colors…but quickly ran into the problem that my BEADsmith no-stretch nylon wont fit through twice when it is doubled. It says it is size6 18yards. Should I run out and buy another brand/size? Some people are saying their bracelets stretch out and their thread breaks over time. I am making this as a gift for a friend so I would like it to last. HELP!?

Hi Angela – yes, size 6 bead cord is about 4x as thick as the size D SuperLon thread we used for our bracelets. The only breakage any of us have experienced was when we added more thread and didn’t knot securely. However, if it just seems too thin for your liking, you might try size 2 nylon cord – at about .3mm, it will most likely fit. With any thread or cord, you can “prestretch” it just by tugging sections with your hands before you start the project. Hope this helps! Good luck 🙂

Crazy, I just took a class in making these and the instructions had a statement that the design, technique was copyrighted!! So I began googling and saw your great tutorial. Can they sue for copyright infringement if I sell a few? They seem to be everywhere and they are fantastic and fun to make.

Hi Pete! Copyrights are confusing. As you can see, this style of bracelet is everywhere, so it seems doubtful your teacher – or anyone really – has a legal right to the design. What he or she probably could protect is their version of the instructions (i.e. the handout you received in the class). Each designer who uses a technique like this adds their own personality and style to the mix – which is what makes jewelry design so fun!

Hi Cindi! It is hard to try to diagnose without seeing – either too tight OR too loose could be the problem! The beads need to be held firmly in place by the thread. Where I had problems was at the end – lashing too tight caused my last bead to want to “pop” out of the leather, and too loose is just a mess. Clipping the bracelet down close to the end while I did the final lashing is what helped me – maybe other readers can share what works best for them? Thanks all!

Hi Cindy! Thanks for the great tutorial. I read through all of the comments for the extra tips, which made this bracelet a breeze. I used brown leather cording with topaz and rainbow seed beads, stacked 2 in each row to make it a little wider. I made it long enough to wrap around my wrist twice, which just so happens to be the right length for a choker as well. I’m so stoked with this pattern and I’m about to start another one! Thanks again!
Andrea

Hi April! Sorry about that. The directions are a little vague about the end because there are several ways you can do it. The end is kind of like the beginning – after you’ve added all the beads you want, make a bunch of whip stitches with the thread around the leather. Then knot the thread and trim off any excess. How you tie off the leather depends on what type of button or clasp you are using. As you can see from our examples, we found 5 or 6 different ways of making it work…and there are probably more! Hope this helps 🙂

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